Adam Glatczak writes the "Wednesday Onions" column for CollegeHoopsnet.  Bookmark the "Wednesday Onions" homepage and come back each week!

Some early onions…

Greetings, and welcome to the new college basketball season.

Thank God that we will soon be getting back to the games on the court, and we can try to forget about this offseason that, frankly, makes some of us question why we even watch big time college sports.

Before moving onto the 2003-04 season, though, it would be simply wrong to just forget this past offseason. Doing so would suggest there was nothing to be learned from these previous months. That is absolutely not the case, even though many of the involved parties will almost certainly choose not to learn, anyways.

This past eight months or so has been nothing less than an embarrassment to the sport of college basketball and college sports in general. Forget all the spin you read about “a few bad apples spoiling it for everybody.” Hogwash. The recent events indicated that there is a serious problem with the culture of college basketball and major college sports.

Anyone who tries to pretend there aren’t problems is ignorant, lying, or simply can’t face the music. Things are bad right now, and the sad thing is they very likely won’t be corrected because no one wants to face up to them.

One could easily cite the litany of scandals at schools like Georgia, Fresno State and Baylor, but the two-faced, backstabbing events in these recent conference realignments tell you all you need to know about college sports at the highest level right now.

Many self-righteous school president or conference commissioner-types get angry when a Virginia Tech or Boston College pulls off the embarrassing shenanigans they did. Don’t confuse that with anger for how they did it, though.

You know that their real problem isn’t a moral objection; it’s simply that they aren’t a part of the fun. In that regard, it’s hard to really feel sorry for the BCS wannabees, no matter how sickeningly greedy their adversaries are.

The way it is throughout major college sports is: talk about doing the right thing, until it’s time to do it yourself. Until that mentality changes for not only the schools but also for fans and even those covering the sports, we are going to have fiascos like the whole conference realignment ordeal, where many make short-sighted changes that they’ll be paying for several years down the road. If not sooner.

This is why we’re happy to get to the basketball season. No, actually we’re falling on our knees in gratitude. It’s going to be so much better to read about what’s happening on the court instead of reading someone coming up with their 5,000^th proposal for a new conference.

In preparation for the season, been watching some old games on tape, from this past season and from as far as twenty years back. (it’s much more fun than playing Conference-opoly on message boards). Although the game is much different now (much less dribbling and contact years ago), it’s still fun because of the diversity and how closely bunched teams are.

We don’t really get to see it as much anymore during the regular season, since the major conferences almost completely avoid any decent teams from conferences like the Missouri Valley and Horizon League, but the difference between a Big 12 and a Mid-American Conference is a lot narrower than anyone thinks. You saw it a ton last year in the NCAA Tournament, when teams like Utah State, East Tennessee State and San Diego gave much more highly touted opponents everything they could handle.

None of those teams ran away with their conferences in the regular season-in fact, they didn’t even win their regular season titles. And yet, all three were just a possession or two from pulling huge upsets.

That is why college basketball is fun, because unlike the BCS in college football, there still is at least some chance for the unknown schools to prove it on the court. As mentioned above, that chance has decreased in recent years with the over-reliance on the idiotic RPI and with major conferences a) playing only bad teams out of conference or b) in-breeding against conferences like them, but at least it’s there.

Heaven help us if the NCAA continues tweaking the tournament to the point that they start taking that away. With the pod system and now re-seeding the Final Four, it seems they sure want to try, so let’s hope somewhere along the line they see the tourney has been fine for years and hasn’t needed the change-ups they’ve thrown in of late.

Hopefully, this season goes off with less hitches than the last. It certainly would allow us to forget about phony football titles, conference realignments, terrible graduation rates and cheating programs. Even though we probably shouldn’t. You know what they say about those who don’t learn from history.

Five teams who may not live up to incredible expectations

Teams who should be good, but not THAT good…

Michigan State. Not that the Spartans shouldn’t be improved, but to expect a Final Four from a team coming off a 13-loss season is a stretch, even if it does have the Tom Izzo Advantage. Spartan fans are going to love this, since many thought MSU was picked on last year, but Michigan St. is a perfect sample of a team that is getting more preseason press this year than they’ve earned. What everyone thinks about when discussing the Spartans is that they made it to the Elite Eight last year and that they return most of their players. You can probably add the Izzo factor in, too, but forgotten is this: at one point last year, the Spartans were 14-11. This is a team that went 3-7 in true road games last year, lost at home to 13-16 Toledo, and had a problem at point guard most of the season. That problem looks like it very well could still be present in East Lansing. This is a solid program and it performed well at the end of the year and in the NCAAs, but I don’t care what the pollsters say. Right now, if I fill out a preseason top 25, the Spartans would fall in the 10-15 range, and no higher.

Missouri. A school that is perennially overrated, not sure if it was the media’s infatuation with Quin Snyder’s hair or what in past years, but the Tigers have rarely brought the goods to match their preseason rep. Usually, Mizzou beats most everyone it should, gets one or two prime scalps at home and loses most of the rest of its toughies, credentials which are nice but don’t exactly make you top 10 material. Even with a roster that looks loaded, let’s see this team win a few tough (i.e.: not Nebraska or Kansas State) conference road games for once.

Gonzaga. This writer has been on the Zag bandwagon since 1997-98, but beware. The Bulldogs return a lot of players and bring in some good ones, too, but if you look past the classic with Arizona in the NCAAs, you might remember that this team did have problems at times last year (do Portland and Loyola Marymount ring a bell?) It still needs another guard to step up and take some heat off Blake Stepp, the inside guys need more consistency, and Washington transfer Erroll Knight should upgrade the athleticism, but hearing some Zag fans you’d think GU just added Michael Jordan (the 1993, not 2003 version) this year. Let’s just wait and see him in game action before anointing Knight.

St. Joseph’s. Like Gonzaga, the Hawks are a personal favorite. (How can one not love the Hawk, the hardest working mascot in all of sports?) However, SJU has typically operated better when it’s the hunter, not the hunted. Such as two years ago, when a senior-dominated team was a preseason top 15 everywhere, yet missed the NCAAs. It’ll be interesting to see if this year’s squad parallels that. One thinks Phil Martelli is too smart a coach to let it happen, but the possibility should linger in the minds of Hawk fans.

North Carolina. 10^th in the nation in preseason polls? Are you kidding me? (And whoever gave UNC a first-place vote in the coaches’ poll should have his ballot revoked immediately.) Look, Roy Williams is one of the best coaches anyone can get, and this team has talent. But does the phrase “NIT team in 2003” mean anything? And it’s not like they even won that tournament or anything. Carolina may well be an NCAA Tournament team this year-that much is probably a fair expectation-but the only way they’re a top 10 team is if Williams becomes Tyrone Willingham, circa 2002, and the Heels get every break imaginable this year.

Five who will be underrated nationally

Louisville. You simply cannot bet against a Rick Pitino team. Some snobs will complain about the Cards’ conference schedule (usually without looking at it) but it doesn’t matter if they’re in Conference Belarus, this team will be a contender.

Indiana. Whether you think Mike Davis a good coach or not, it’s just hard to picture the Hoosiers finishing seventh or lower in the Big 10, as some think they will. Not touting them for the Big 10 title or anything, but a healthy Bracey Wright will go a long way for IU, because there aren’t many who can shoot it better or further.

Creighton. The Bluejays may not win the Missouri Valley this year, but if you think just because Kyle Korver’s gone that this program is toast, you’re nuts. Expect the Jays to get back to being more team-oriented this year, and they’ll be right at or near the top of the MVC. CU will also beat Nebraska for the 5^th year in a row this season…which of the two schools from that state is in the Big 12 again?

BYU. Of course, the Cougars were underrated last year, too. BYU was ranked in the top 20 in the RPI pretty much all season, that be-all, end-all RPI that the big conferences love to trump about when they cite why they’re such superior conferences. Yet the Cougars somehow were a 12 seed in the NCAAs, and then the committee forgot about the ‘BYU rule’ about playing on Sundays when placing them in a regional. (Of course, how can they remember little things like BYU’s world-known affiliation with the Church of Latter-Day Saints when they have to worry about the all-important, useless pod system?) Travis Hansen is gone, but most of the rest of the team returns. If there is a better answer at the point this year than last year, the Cougs may be in the top 25-if they can escape the traditional December toughies against state neighbors like Utah State and Weber State.

Utah State. Back to the Beehive State, where the basketball is as underappreciated as anywhere. The Aggies are missing several players from last year, including star forward Desmond Penigar, but Stew Morrill ALWAYS re-loads. We’re not sure who’s going to step up, but just be assured someone will. Morrill is a terrific molder of teams. It’s just too bad USU hasn’t beefed up its schedule more. This is a program that is good enough to compete on a national basis, if it would just take a few chances in scheduling.

Five who might get some national pub later on…

UNC-Wilmington. You say, ‘How can the Seahawks be here, they’re missing Brett Blizzard and most publications pick them in the middle of the Colonial Athletic Association?’ Because this is one of the most underrated programs in the country. UNCW probably deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Gonzaga, Butler, Creighton and the rest of the “it” non-BCS or BCS-wannabe programs, except the Seahawks’ location on the coast of North Carolina and their lack of games on TV or against major conference foes has kept them hidden. However, there is a toughness that has been built into this program that is just like that of Gonzaga and Butler. The Seahawks don’t back down from anyone. You saw it last year in the NCAAs against Maryland, when UNCW took the Terps’ best shot and still should’ve beaten them. You saw it two years ago when Wilmington beat a much more athletic USC team in the tourney and almost beat a charmed Indiana team, and some have seen it in the regular season against schools like Wake Forest, Charleston and Minnesota. Jerry Wainwright built a foundation there that Brad Brownell has carried on: the Seahawks play sticky, halfcourt defense, battle on the boards, and get clutch plays from underappreciated players on offense. Blizzard is gone, but John Goldsberry stepped up in the NCAAs against Maryland big time and looks like he’s ready for a much larger role this year. Expect some other subs from last season to be more prominent this year, too. The Seahawks don’t look as good on paper, but there is no clear-cut favorite in the CAA, so they’re the team to beat until knocked off.

Manhattan. The Jaspers quite possibly deserve to be ranked in preseason top 25 polls. Luis Flores is as good a player as there is anywhere in the country. Not just anywhere in “mid-major” country, this ‘anywhere’ includes players in the BCS and BCS wannabe conferences. He also has a stout team around him. The big problem for the Jaspers is size, which rears its head more when they face bigger teams. The Jaspers have had problems rebounding against big teams, as they did against Syracuse in the NCAAs. Incidentally, Manhattan could be at least a top 40 team and not even win its conference. The Metro Atlantic isn’t a bad league, and Niagara is poised to offer an extremely stiff challenge in the MAAC. The Purple Eagles have some nice players themselves, including frontcourt brute Juan Mendez, and if they can shoot a little better from the perimeter, maybe find some depth and get off to a better start early in the season (NU has had problems with that in recent years), Niagara will be a tough out in the Metro Atlantic. Just like the Jaspers.

Rice. Yep, the Owls. Willis Wilson’s team had a quietly strong season in 2002-03, finishing 19-10. With Tulsa, Fresno State and Hawaii having some questions marks coming into the season, Nevada is getting most of the hype in the WAC. However, it wouldn’t be a shock if the talented Owls make a run to the top of the league, if they avoid the injury jinx that seems to plague Wilson’s teams every time they look ready to become a consistent threat for winning seasons. Rice will miss Omar-Seli Mance, but Michael Harris, Yamar Dienne and Jason McKrieth are good enough to make up for it. Expect Dienne to become a star in the WAC this year. This is a team that has talent in all areas, and if it gets even a fair amount of depth from newcomers, look out. Rice should win 20 games and could make some noise when it hosts Stanford early in the year. The Owls also have UConn coming to Autry Court. Interesting.

Illinois-Chicago. In reality, the Flames are the trendy pick to win the Horizon League this year, but this team could sneak out some national publicity, too, if it can get off to a hot start and maybe beat a certain Big 10 school that shares their state name in late December. As they were, last year’s UIC squad was darn good, probably good enough to have done damage (like Butler) or freaked someone out (like UW-Milwaukee) in the NCAAs. Coach Jimmy Collins returns almost everyone from that team, and though Illinois-Chicago is small, it has superb athletes who play much bigger than their size. Cedric Banks is only 6-2 but is as smooth a two-guard as you’ll find. Martell Bailey is a pocket-sized point man who feeds Banks and others all day (8.5 assists per game in 2002-03, as well as a nifty 2.53:1 assist-to-turnover ratio), Aaron Carr can score and Armond Williams is just 6-5 but is an animal on the glass. This team has the ingredients, it’s just a matter of hunger and how high its ceiling is. 1-2 NCAA wins certainly should be a goal.

Vermont. The Catamounts get back T.J. Sorrentine after a redshirt year when he broke both wrists. Ouch. They get to keep Taylor Coppenrath, too, one of the best players in the east. UVM will miss Matt Sheftic, though, a lunchpail guy who was all heart in the paint, and the loss of all-around contributor Grant Anderson will sting more than some think. Still, Sorrentine and Coppenrath make one of the best 1-2 combos in the nation, and they should make the Catamounts a threat to at least scare almost anybody. They don’t back down to challenges, and Sorrentine should solve a point guard problem the Catamounts had when he went down. At the absolute least, it should be fun to watch Vermont battle with Boston U. and Northeastern for the America East title.

Ten looking to break through

Teams who have good chances to end long or even eternal NCAA tourney dry spells:

Morehead State. Ahhhh, it’s so close for the Eagles. MSU (Morehead State, not Murray State) won the Ohio Valley regular season last year and nearly ended an NCAA Tournament drought that’s coming up on 20 years now. They ran into a hungry Tennessee Tech team in the OVC tourney, though, and Kyle Macy’s team didn’t even get an NIT bid. Weak. This year, even with supreme scorers Ricky Minard and the underrated Chez Marks, the Eagles are actually the underdog in their conference, as Austin Peay returns nearly everyone from their NCAA team. That’s all right, because it’ll keep a little of the pressure off this bunch. The biggest obstacle the Eagles will face in their quest to return to supremacy is finding a new point guard.

Stephen F. Austin. Sam Houston State finally broke into the NCAA Tournament last year…can bitter rival SFA do it this year? They have a good shot. Soon-to-be rising coaching star Danny Kaspar loses some key players from last year’s 21-8 team, but he played 11 players regularly last year. That will pay off this year, just as it does from year-to-year for schools like Creighton and Troy State. Even though Percy Green, one of the Southland Conference’s best last year, is among the missing, the Lumberjacks return players at every position. It very well could be good enough to get Stephen F. Austin into its first NCAAs since joining Division 1 in the mid-80s. Incidentally, one of the Jacks’ biggest challengers may be Texas-Arlington, a school that also is looking for its first NCAA bid ever.

Oakland. The Raiders, er, Athletics, er, Golden Grizzlies are hoping to continue their trend of being one year behind fellow Mid-Continent school Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis. Oakland moved into Division 1 in 1999, one year after the then-Metros (now Jaguars) moved up, and they became official postseason-eligible members of the Mid-Con a year after the Jags. Now, they’ll try to follow up IUPUI’s NCAA bid from last year with one of their own. The Grizzlies have a trio (Mike Helms, Rawle Marshall and Cortney Scott) that will frighten many an opponent this year, inside and outside the Mid-Con. The non-conference schedule includes San Diego, Michigan, Cincinnati, Missouri, Detroit, Texas A&M and Memphis, with Illinois-Chicago also a possibility. Wow. Greg Kampe’s team should be ready for it, though. Kampe has done a nice job building this program gradually, just as Ron Hunter has done at IUPUI. Of course, barring an amazing run through that pre-conference sked, it’ll all come down to the Mid-Continent tourney in Kansas City in March.

Eastern Washington. The Eagles could be a perennial on this list. Evidence of that comes from last year’s slogan on the team media guide: “If not now, then when?” Just like it did in 1990, 2001 and 2002, EWU nearly missed the NCAAs last year, playing in the Big Sky Tournament final at a Weber State team that went unbeaten in conference regular season play. The Eagles outplayed the Wildcats for all but about 5 minutes, but that was enough to get Weber in the dance and Eastern another year of frustration. This year’s team will be good again, probably the best in its state next to Gonzaga. Once again, it’ll be a matter of delivering in the postseason, although the Eagles could make it easier on themselves if they can win the Big Sky regular season for once and thus host the conference tourney. Guard Alvin Snow should help to make that happen, and the rumor is coach Ray Giacoletti has brought in a stud recruiting class. Even if the Eagles do have some hard times, though, they’ll be interesting to watch. Center Gregg Smith has a mullet for the ages.

Cal-Irvine. In some ways, the Anteaters have suffered even more than the Eagles the past few seasons. UCI has been at or very near the top of the Big West the past couple years, winning a pair of regular season league titles, only to falter in the conference tourney. Particularly painful was a 2000-01 screw job by the NCAA committee, which looked right past the ’Eaters 25-4 record to invite that legendary 16-14 Georgia team to the tourney. More and more players have been disappearing from those strong Pat Douglass-coached teams of the last three years, but big Adam Parada remains. The seven-footer has the size, skills and athleticism to be The Force in the conference, but he hasn’t put it together consistently yet. He needs to avoid fouls. There are enough cohesive if not earth-shattering parts on this team (including guards Jeff Gloger and Ross Schraeder and forward Stanislav Zuzak) and the league is so tight at the top that dominance by Parada could make this team the best in the Big West.

Delaware State. The Hornets have been buzzing around the top of the MEAC the last couple years now, quite an accomplishment considering Delaware State went through five coaches in six years before Greg Jones came aboard three years ago. Jones has built this program into one of the conference’s best, now the step is to earn Del-State its first NCAA bid ever. With South Carolina State losing several starters and Hampton something of a question mark after an inconsistent 2002-03 season, why not the Hornets? DSC returns three starters from last year, with the leaders being 5-9 point man Miles Davis and 6-6 former Villanova transfer Aaron Matthews. Jones has proven to be a find for DSC as a head coach, so expect him to get this team to jell in conference play.

Mercer. The poor Bears. After going 6-23 in 2001-02, Mercer had one of the finest turnarounds you’ll ever see, improving to 23-6. However, Mark Slonaker’s club lost in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun tournament, and the NIT (much less the NCAA) didn’t even think twice about not inviting them. After that royal rip job, Mercer is going to try to beat the door down again and make its first postseason trip since a 1985 run to the NCAAs. They’ll do it without several key players from last year, but one who is back is Scott Emerson, who could be the A-Sun Player of the Year. What they lack in returnees, Mercer should make up for in motivation.

Wichita State. It’s been 15 long years since the Shockers made the NCAA Tournament, but evidence of this program’s rise under Mark Turgeon is in the schedule. Nobody from a BCS conference will play Wichita by choice this year (Boston College may face WSU in a tournament), and when the Shocks went looking for a high-profile opponent to come to the renovated and renamed Koch (formerly Levitt) Arena, they found…Northern Arizona. The Lumberjacks are a nice team who, unless something slipped by us, hasn’t joined the Big 12 or SEC as far as we know. That just means the Shockers will have to prove it on the court with large quantities of wins, and it’s likely they will. The only question about this team is if it has the toughness to be the hunted, rather than the hunter. If they don’t, though, they can learn it quickly, because the Missouri Valley Conference is a grind and compares favorably with just about any conference in its toughness to win on the road. This team looks a lot like Southern Illinois last year-experienced and boasting a number of weapons and the appropriate mix of role players.

Quinnipiac. Many are picking the Bobcats to win the Northeast Conference this year, including NEC coaches. That would be a big step for this program that is still young on the Division 1 level. It could happen, though, with the Q returning four starters from last year. The team features Kason Mims and Rashaun Banjo as scorers but also has a number of players who can step up. Robert Monroe is one of the top point guards in the NEC, and C.J. Vick is an energizer who should play more this year. Vick is 6-8 and athletic, and is also the cousin of a certain Atlanta Falcons quarterback with the same last name. Joe DeSantis is the coach who has been at the Connecticut school for a while and oversaw its move from Division II to D-I. An NCAA bid would be a well-deserved reward. By the way, Quinnipiac has one of the best student sections anywhere. The “Crazy Bobcats” are small in number at games at Burt Kahn Court, but they’re known to be a royal pain in the keester for opponents during timeouts.

Middle Tennessee State. Home of Tommy Gunn, one of the best names in basketball. The Blue Raiders have game, though, Gunn in particular. MTSU made the Sun Belt tourney final last year, going toe-to-toe with homestanding Western Kentucky for a half before icy-cold shooting caught up with them. They have the right man on the job, though, as Kermit Davis is a coach who had wild success at Idaho in the late-80s. It’s been 14 years since #13 seed Middle Tennesssee drilled Florida State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but the program is close to finally making it back. With the Sun Belt wide open this year, even though the Blue Raiders lost three starters from last year, expect Davis’s team to contend.

A little hootin’…

Just wanted to present some news from the ol’ alma mater. Was checking out the school’s athletic site recently when I came across this:

“UW-Eau Claire students can attend all home regular season athletic events FREE of charge upon presentation of a validated university ID. Cardreaders will be present at all home events to verify a valid ID. Be sure to bring your Blugold ID, otherwise you will not be able to receive this special offer.”

Why did this catch my eye? Well, first of all, this wasn’t the policy when I was attending the school just a few years ago. At that time, we still had to pay a small fee to get into athletic events (usually about $2 for a football game with your ID card at the gate). The costs for non-students weren’t much higher, maybe, say, $5 for a football game.

Second and more importantly, though, it reminded me of an argument often heard in today’s fiscally preoccupied college sports world. Schools like Boston College and South Florida are presumably joining far-flung conference they have no place in, geographically or otherwise, because they need to rake in as much revenue as possible. The reason why is because they have to support leeching sports like cross country, tennis and wrestling, sports that require participants and incur travel costs just like basketball or football but-gasp!-don’t produce revenue.

According to many, if it weren’t for these sports or Title IX, maybe we wouldn’t have a Boston College being in a conference with Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson, right? It’s really the fault of all of these other sports…if they would just carry their weight, we’d never have any of this.

I always find this argument interesting in just how wrong and short-sighted it is. Maybe it’s because those who have this beef can’t lower themselves to ask the question: just how in the world do Division III schools exist?

Obviously, UW-Eau Claire did not change its policy to make money, nor did it charge positively cheap prices in the past to make money off athletics. And yet, the school still has a perfectly good athletic program, with football, and the school is not going bankrupt from paying for athletics.

The thing is, Eau Claire and other Division III schools budget sports into the general university budget, just like they budget money for student organizations, clubs, cafeterias, etc. The school honestly doesn’t expect a dime out of athletics. That doesn’t mean UWEC isn’t subject to cuts or Title IX concerns on occasion-it dropped a varsity baseball program several years ago-but it doesn’t view non-revenue producing sports of any kind as a tremendous burden.

Now, the question is this: if a Division III school, which surely does not receive nearly the budgeted funds as a school such as, for instance, Big Ten member Wisconsin in Madison, if a Division III school can afford to budget non-revenue producing sports into the school budget, just why in the heck can’t a Big Ten, SEC or Big 12 level school do the same, considering they’re all obviously bringing in and spending a lot more money and receiving a lot more in donations and endowments?

Such is the logic of big-money college sports. Spend money, but blame it on those not spending as much as thyself.

Conference realignment disclaimer

Now that we’ve gotten a few things off the chest, this column is going to be a conference realignment-free zone throughout basketball season. That’s not to say a biting, passing comment on conferences like the ACC, Big East and Conference USA and their efforts to turn major college sports into mush won’t occasionally slip. However, if you’re looking for someone to propose more ifs, what-abouts, and what-I’d-like-to-sees on conference groupings, you will not find them here (what I’d really like to see is for these schools and conferences to cut this crap out and leave well-enough alone, if you do ask).

Some college sports fans are actually more interested in what happens on the field, not whether or not a school can get more money in another conference so they can upgrade the hotels they’re staying in the nights before home games. That will be the focus here. Will say this, though: you have to wonder how all these school presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners can honestly look themselves in a mirror and be happy with themselves with the way they are dragging down college athletics. Sad.

Go NIT

Nice work by the National Invitation Tournament, going after Michigan and Minnesota to get some of their money back. Some have argued that the NIT has no right to that money, but why not? The cheating during the NIT by those schools was exactly the same as it was during the NCAA Tournament, wasn’t it? Plus, we all know that the NIT could use the bucks a lot more than the NCAA, so if it can get it back (as it did), more power to them. Their tournament has been tainted, they deserve it. It’s still a small price to pay for the offenders anyways, considering not only how much these schools (especially Michigan) got away with, but also how they’ve tainted the experience for all their competitors. Those schools who competed against cheaters were every bit as innocent as those Michigan players (or Georgia, or Fresno State, etc.) whose team(s) were banned from postseason play last year, and blatantly cheating schools deserve to pay every way possible, whether their name is Ohio State or Ohio Wesleyan.

Some players to watch this year who you won’t know about but should

Back to the preview…

Andrew Wisniewski, G, Centenary. You have to like the Polish last name, if nothing else, but this guy can score. He pumped in 22 a game last year for the Gents last year, and as a senior he’ll be the leader on a team that is jumping from the independent ranks into the Mid-Continent Conference. Truthfully, it’s not that good of a team, but hey, you never know how a group will react to finally having the carrot of an automatic NCAA bid to compete for in the postseason. Wisniewski also is living proof that players can transfer from just about anywhere to just about anywhere. The New York native was a Peacock at St. Peter’s College in New Jersey before transferring and becoming a Gent at Centenary in Louisiana.

Mike Helms, G, Oakland. This section could be called the All-Mid-Continent Conference team. With Helms, Wisniewski and Michael Watson of Missouri-Kansas City, the Mid-Con has three of the top nine returning scorers in the country. Scoring is good, so this conference should be as entertaining to watch as any. Helms was the nation’s leading scorer for quite awhile last year before Ruben Douglas of New Mexico gunned past him late in the season. This year, word is Oakland coach Greg Kampe wants to see Helms score less, but he should at least get enough garbage to score 20 or so a game. Helms isn’t the most flamboyant scorer, but gets his in a lot of ways (including at the foul line) and the next thing you know he’s torched you for 30.

James Moore, F, New Mexico State. The Aggies have finally run out of transfers from the defunct athletic program at Northeastern Illinois, but that doesn’t mean Lou Henson still doesn’t have a pipeline to the state. Moore was the Sun Belt Player of the Year last year and should have NMSU near the top of the league again this year. Scoring, rebounding, blocking shots-Moore does it all. The Aggies have sort of disappeared from the national conscious in the Sun Belt, not surprising since the league is a terrible fit for the school geographically. However, with a number of teams in the league reloading this year after personnel losses (in college basketball you just can’t use the term “graduation” very freely), look for Moore to get more publicity this season. As he should.

Darshan Luckey, G, St. Francis (Pa.). Luckey is just a sophomore this year, which means Northeast Conference schools will have nightmares about him for several more years. Last year, the 6-3 guard averaged 21.6 points per game, scoring about any way possible. This year the Red Flash should be contending for the NEC title and he’ll be a big reason. Luckey should be the best player in the conference now that Jermaine Hall completed his eligibility at Wagner, and by the time he’s done he should be the best St. Francis player since Mike Iuzzolino (remember him?) led the Loretto, Pa. school to the NCAAs in 1991.

Shane Schilling, G/F, Cal Poly SLO. For some reason, Cal Poly and Minnesota, of all schools, have had a weird kind of pipeline between each other of late. The Gophers picked up Mitch Ohnstad as a transfer from Cal Poly a few years ago, and he went on to have a solid few years at U of M. Meanwhile, Minnesota gave back Schilling, who should be one of the top players in the Big West Conference this year. Schilling and Varnie Dennis (another player you should get to know) give Cal Poly the best 1-2 punch in this league and one of the best on the west coast. While Dennis will bang inside, Schilling will swing between the forward and guard spots. He can score 15 a game and grab 6-8 boards a game, which makes him pretty darn valuable and especially for a swingman. Watch this team in the Big West-they had a sip of postseason success last year when they made the Big West final and narrowly lost to Utah State.

Adam Hess, F, William & Mary. One of those guys who just deserves to play on a good team once in his college career. It probably won’t happen, because the Tribe is rebuilding again this year. While adding Virginia small college coaching legend Tony Shaver will pay dividends eventually, it’ll likely take him some time. Hopefully, he’ll be running some motion offense this year. Hess flourished when former coach Rick Boyages had to team switch to a continuous motion offense midseason last year. Whatever the offense, though, expect Hess to get his 20 points a game this year, and then some. He’s a smooth scorer with a sweet shot, not tremendously flashy but worth checking out.

A very, very quick preseason top 25 analysis

Looking at the AP poll, here are passing thoughts, though I’ll be glad to tell you more about who’s over and underrated when the season starts and we’ve seen the teams play a little.

Just remember: preseason polls mean NOTHING.

Should be out: N.C. State, Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, Marquette

In: Manhattan, Maryland, BYU, Illinois-Chicago (why not fill out the end trying to pick a team that will excel, rather than one that will finish 9-7 in conference play?)

Too low: Syracuse, Kentucky, Texas, Louisville

Too high: Michigan State, North Carolina, Missouri

In the end, still pretenders: Florida, Missouri, Pitt, Notre Dame (after their customary hot start)

Don’t count out: Kansas, Oklahoma, Stanford, California

Questions without answers?

-Even if Gonzaga has a kick-tail regular season with 2-3 losses, will they get screwed as bad in their NCAA Tournament seeding as they did in 2002?

-Will the day ever come that the Mid-American Conference gets the respect-nationally and from the NCAA committee-that it deserves? The MAC is more than just a “mid-major” conference (and the Missouri Valley, too) and should be treated as such.

-If California of the Pac-10 is any good this year, will anyone east of Nevada know it?

-When will college coaches and players realize that offenses could be so much more productive with less perimeter dribbling, better movement without the ball and more passing? There is just way, way too much dribbling nowadays.

-Why is it that, with all the problems it faces, the NCAA doesn’t have the time or money to bust all the cheaters in college sports, yet it’s going to fight to the death in courts to make sure its absurd 2-in-4 rule stays in place?

-How ridiculous is it that ESPN will feature Florida State three times and Penn State and Northwestern twice each this year, and will show a team that was in the top 20 almost all of last year (Creighton) once? Don’t try to tell me for a nanosecond that those teams would draw more interest than the Bluejays.

-Speaking of the network that is trying to kill TV sports with garbage like “Playmakers”, have they not force-fed LeBron James down our throats enough now? Obviously trying to promote him as the next megastar because they needed a storyline when they got the NBA TV package, they’ve hyped him so much it’s beyond sickening. Not that I waste any time watching the NBA (or Playmakers) anyway, but it’s time to stop.

-Finally, how cool is it that Billy Tubbs (Lamar), Tom Davis (Drake) and Dick Bennett (Washington State) are back coaching again? College basketball is better for these guys being out there, and it’s too bad there can’t be more like them.

Adam Glatczak writes the "Wednesday Onions" column for CollegeHoopsnet.  Bookmark the "Wednesday Onions" homepage and come back each week!